Troy Perkins is a Person of Interest
Having now seen the phrases "a suspect Troy Perkins", "unsteady", and "possibly exposed" too many places to count now, plus multiple replays of the goal he let in against Chivas, does anyone else think this is reaching the point of stupidity? Yes, there were two goals scored against him in the Colorado game. Was he to blame for either? Was his positioning bad? Was he missing saves he should have gotten to? Did he fail to control the box when that was called for?
As far as I could tell, he had an acceptable, though perhaps not phenomenal game, against Colorado. He neither over- nor under-performed expectations. He made some key saves. He snagged some crosses out of the air. He had one mistake which led to him bopping a cross out for a corner. Am I missing something? Or is everyone looking at one highlight clip and a box score and drawing conclusions for which there is little evidence? I shall let the people decide.
Labels: Troy Perkins
posted by D @ 1:00 PM
12 Comments:
No, I think you're dead on. Way too many people are freaking out about the mistake in Guadalajara. It was one bad play, it happens. I haven't seen any other issues with him so far in '07.
Compared to the disaster of a game Nicky turned in for RSL, I think Troy did just fine last Saturday.
I completely agree D. He has been good except for that one mistake against Chivas. Everybody is just trying to justify dropping DC after talking them up in the pre-season.
A great goalie would have saved the second goal. Either way, I believe the criticism of Troy is not that he is a bad goalkeeper, only that he is an average goalkeeper, and nothing more. If DC had had an exceptional goalkeeper these past few years, it is likely (although, not provable), that we would have won a title or two, instead of zero...The fact that he and Rimando were in a tight competition for the past couple years says it all, as Rimando's quality (or lack there of) speaks for itself...
You're right, D, and Troy's critics are wrong. It was one very bad play at a very bad time. It is not a trend, but where would sport punditry be without overreaction? Let's remember that Troy made a mistake that led to a goal in the opener last year, leading to quite a bit of speculation about whether he was ready for the starting job, and he went on to win Goalkeeper of the Year.
Hear, hear (or is it, "here, here." Never knew that one.) The second Chivas goal was a disaster and Perkins knew it. And he was left for dead on both Colorado goals.
But I'm also among the people who rate Perkins as no better than good - and that's, y'know, good. But he needs to yell more; even after egregious blunders, I never catch the guy barking at his defenders. Having not caught a DC game live in, oh, ten years (crap...was it that long ago?), I wouldn't know this, but does he do a lot of the organizational yelling during the game? If not Perkins, who does? The DC backline could use a bunch of yelling.
Hello D,
Don't know if I'm one of the offenders, but I did say, "Perkins might be falling into a slump" in my weekly power ratings. If I am, let me explain why I said it.
Last season I was amazed by Perkins goalkeeping. At times it seemed like he was the main reason DC was in a slump instead of a full on dive during the second part of the season.
What I saw on Saturday was a keeper making some good saves, but he seemed to lack some of the intuition from last season.
In looking at my notes, I wrote down stuff about his footing being a little off on a few occasions causing him to jump or move a bit later then he could have. Now these 'footing' issues didn't lead to the goals, but I thought they might have something to do with confidence and if a keeper loses that, he is in deep water.
Anyway, this might just be my over analyzing and it could be influenced by the Chivas goal, but he just didn't look to be on the level of last year.
I know it is early and they had played a difficult game a few nights before, that's why I put the 'might be' in my statement.
Perkins was still one of the four best keepers of the weekend, but I wanted to note what I saw so I could revisit it later.
Hope that helps flesh out my thoughts, even if you were not pointing to them as examples.
Let us remember back a season early 2006 where he badly bobbled a ball from the Pink Flamingos. He then spent 4 games getting better and better before becoming nearly unstoppable for 15... so I'm not worried at all... I'd rather him screw up now then September to November...
D....I agree...the naysayers are overreacting...a lesser GK would have cracked after giving up that crap vs. Chivas but he came back and made two very nice saves.
Nick..you don't know what you are talking about...Perkins is not average. He dominates the six yard box better than any MLS keeper..comes off his line better than any MLS keeper
Mike H...I am a bit concerned also about Perkins' footwork in regards to shot stopping. He gets poor extension on his power dive because he isn't moving his feet quickly...especially when he's forced to make a reaction save. He has lots of room to improve in that area...
Perkins has more upside than any GK in the MLS...Ries, Harman and Cannon have all peaked...Guzan hasn't shown any consistency and the RSL rookie is unproven...
Kinney: Yeah, that sounds right to me.
Nick: Perhaps a great goalie makes that save. But I don't think you really need a great goalie to win a lot in MLS. I'd rather have a rather good goalie, which I think Perkins is, and spend money in the field.
Ferry: Perkins does yell in the box. So do Boswell and Olsen.
Jeffrey: The parallel had occurred to me as well.
Mike H: Yes, you were one, of about five, different people I was thinking of. Your points are well made. It was more Ives and the like who were really going after Perkins.
Matt Y: I mostly agree, but I think Perkins at his peak would be nothing better than a #4 option for the national side. Reis has peaked, but he's peaked higher than I think Perkins can go. Seitz and Guzan both have tremendous upside, but potential, as we in DC well know, does not equal performance.
D...perkins dominates the air better than most I've seen. If he improves his shot stopping I think he'll peak way above the guys that had long and successful MLS careers.
i agree that i don't ever see him on the level of the big 4 currently playing in Europe.
Perkins matches them all in command of his box...but all 4 are miles ahead in shot stopping and of course experience.
If perkins keeps improving i can see him playing in Europe at a decent level.
I haven't seen Sietz..but i know he's pretty hyped.
Guzon...he's young so he can improve on consistency. If he was 30 I'd say that he's done...
So, I need to know something people, is he average og is he good? I am a Norwegian man who supports Vaalerenga FC i Oslo, Norway. This is where Troy will end up, it seems. He is coming to the club in Norway that has the best supporters, with over 10000 memebers in the official supporterclub. Lots and lots of history and in the top of the Norwegian League.. So please, does he suck, or does he rock?
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